Department of Education

Table of contents

Ministerial responsibility for the Department of Education is held by the Hon Gilbert Licudi QC.

The Department of Education is under the control of the Director of Education, who has a duty to promote education in Gibraltar generally, to control and direct educational policy, to administer and inspect all schools and to ensure the due administration of the provisions of the relevant legislation.

The department has responsibility for the development and implementation of an effective framework for learning in all its forms; full and part-time, academic, professional and vocational.
The main contact numbers and e-mail address for general enquiries are:

There are 14 schools and one college of further education in Gibraltar. All teacher training takes place in UK universities and colleges, and teachers must have a registration number issued by the Department for Education (UK).

The Gibraltar government provides a number of nursery places for pre-school children, the current provision for these children is catered for by Varyl Begg Nursery, St Paul’s Nursery, St Mary’s Nursery, Governor’s Meadow Nursery, St Bernard’s Nursery, Notre Dame Nursery and St Joseph’s Nursery. There is also a nursery attached to St Martin’s Special School. In addition there are privately run playgroups and nurseries, 10 of them currently registered with the Department of Education which inspects them jointly with the Environmental Agency and City Fire Brigade to ensure minimum standards of accommodation, numbers on roll and staffing levels.

Primary education is free, full-time and compulsory for Gibraltar. Schools are all co-educational and English is the language of instruction. Spanish is introduced formally as a subject in middle school (year 4), but may be employed earlier as a teaching aid in special circumstances. All curricula are based on the national curriculum for England, but with specific differences in respect of Spanish and other subjects (including Religious Education) reflecting local realities.

Formal education in first schools begins at the commencement of the autumn term each year, so organised that all children who will turn 5 during the academic year are enrolled at the start of the academic year. To ease the transition into schooling, morning sessions only are attended for a period of time. Both morning and afternoon sessions follow, later on in the year. Schools are free to determine when and how often children start attending afternoon sessions.

Secondary education is free, full-time and compulsory for Gibraltar residents between the ages 12+ and 15+ years. The secondary curriculum is defined by national curriculum legislation. In the first two years (8 and 9), secondary schools offer a broad compulsory curriculum that includes English, Mathematics, Science, French or European studies, Spanish, History, Geography, Art, Music, Religious Education, Physical Education, Design and Technology and Information and Communications Technology. In years 10 and 11, pupils opt for subjects from a range of disciplines, keeping to national curriculum requirements. In addition, all pupils take the core subjects (English, Mathematics and Science), Religious Education and Physical Education. Vocational education is also available.

St Martin’s School caters for a wide range of special needs for children between the ages of 5+ and 16+. Notre Dame School and Bishop Fitzgerald schools are Learning Support Facilities (LSFs), which cater for children of first school age, for whom St Martin’s would be inappropriate but whose special needs cannot be met satisfactorily in the mainstream classroom. There is also a LSF at each secondary school in addition to an Alternative Learning Centre at Bayside School, which aims to provide support for disaffected pupils.

Full time education in Gibraltar is primarily focused on intermediate and advanced courses in information technology, business and finance studies, and built environment studies. An area of rapid growth is that of courses leading to professional qualifications. The college provides tuition support for bodies such as ACCA, ILEX, ICSA, AAT and the institute of bankers. A large number of qualifications are offered, ranging from GCSE to AS/A levels, to full-time students, as well as part-time courses in the evenings.